It also hasn’t forced the newspaper’s owners, Gannett, to remove the map from its website.

“New York residents have the right to own guns with a permit and they also have a right to access public information,” said Janet Hasson, president and publisher of The Journal News Media Group.

The controversial article and accompanying multimedia effort came in the shadow of the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn., that left 28 people dead — 20 of them young children.

Hundreds are commenting on the newspaper’s Facebook page. Reaction ranged from positive (“The public deserves to know”) to civilized criticism (“Shame on you for letting the criminals know which homes to rob to get weapons”) to enraged (“No better than Hitler”).

The map covers Westchester and Rockland counties, and doesn’t publish information about types or numbers of guns. The newspaper found 44,000 permits on record, or 1 in 23 adults, in the Lower Hudson Valley north of New York City.

Al Tompkins, a faculty member at the Poynter Institute for reporters and editors, called it “journalistic arrogance.”